Improvement in letter-boxes



' 'UNITED STATESI PATENT OEETcE.

ROBERT IIALE, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA..

IMPROVEMENT LETTER-BOXES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No-l 210,253, dated November26, 1878; application iiled October 25, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT HALE, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, haveinvented a new and valuable Improvement in Letter -Boxes, of which thefollowing is a clear, full, and exact description, reference being hadto the accom panying drawings, making a part of this speciiication, inwhichi Figure 1 is a perspective View of a letterbox with my improvementattached. Fig. 2 is a Vertical section of the same.

My invention relates to that class ot' boxes which are placed indifferent parts of a city to receive letters intended for the mails, andis an improvement on -Patent N o. 197,849, granted to me December 4, 1877.

It consists in constructing the opening for the admission of letters andother mailable matter in a cap formed on the top of the box proper, ashereinafter explained and claimed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make' and use my invention,Iwillproceed to describe the exact manner in which I have carried it out.A Y

The frequent abstraction of letters from street-boxes as they are nowconstructed demonstrates the vnecessity for further and additionalprotection, and to secure this is the object of my present invention.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the letter-box, and Brepresents a cage or cap constructed thereon, but of smaller dimensionsthan the top of the box proper, so as to leave a portion, a, of the roofor top of the box extending out from and around the cap. In the en d ofthe cap B is made the opening b, for the passing of mail matter withinthe box.

It is evident from this description of my improvement, that mail matterdropped within the cap will descend, and to a great extent fall beneaththe portion a of the roof of the box proper, and thereby be lessexposed' to Vthe operations of a thief, the portion a acting struct theguard C, as shown in Fig. 2, extend- Y ing from the lower edge of theopening inwardly and upwardly at an angle of about forty-live degrees toa point near about on a level with the upper edge of the opening.

I am aware that this guard is not of itself new, and therefore I do notclaim it, broadly, as my invention. v

Having thus explained my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is;-

A street letter-box constructed substantially as described, andconsisting of the body A, the cap B, smaller than the top of the body,and provided with an opening for theadmission of mail matter, and theguard G, projecting inwardly and upwardly, all arranged to operate asand for the purpose set fort-h.

' ROBERT HALE. Witnesses:

' GEO. H. RUST,

OTTO E. GREELY.

